As David had been surrounded by great scholars and heroes of repute, so
the court of Solomon was the gathering-place of the great of his
people. The most important of them all doubtless was Benaiah the son of
Jehoiada, who had no peer for learning and piety either in the time of
the first or the second Temple. (94) In his capacity as the chancellor
of Solomon, he was the object of the king's special favor. He was
frequently invited to be the companion of the king in his games of
chess. The wise king naturally was always the winner. One day Solomon
left the chess-board for a moment, Benaiah used his absence to remove
one of the king's chess-men, and the king lost the game. Solomon gave
much thought to the occurrence. He came to the conclusion that his
chancellor had dealt dishonestly with him, and he was determined to
give him a lesson.
Some days later Solomon noticed two suspicious characters hanging about
the palace. Acting at once upon an idea that occurred to him, he put on
the clothes of one of his servants and joined the two suspects. The
three of them, he proposed, should make the attempt to rob the royal
palace, and he drew forth a key which would facilitate their entrance.
While the thieves were occupied in gathering booty, the king roused his
servants, and the malefactors were taken into custody. Next morning
Solomon appeared before the Sanhedrin, which was presided over by
Benaiah (95) at the time, and he desired to know from the court what
punishment was meted out to a thief. Benaiah, seeing no delinquents
before him, and unwilling to believe that the king would concern
himself about the apprehension of thieves, was convinced that Solomon
was bent on punishing him for his dishonest play. He fell at the feet
of the king, confessed his guilt, and begged his pardon. Solomon was
pleased to have his supposition confirmed, and also to have Benaiah
acknowledge his wrong-doing. he assured him he harbored no evil designs
against him, and that when he asked this question of the Sanhedrin, he
had had real thieves in mind, who had broken into the palace during the
night. (96)
Another interesting incident happened, in which Benaiah played a part.
The king of Persia was very ill, and his physician told him he could be
cured by nothing but the milk of a lioness. The king accordingly sent a
deputation bearing rich presents to Solomon, the only being in the
world who might in his wisdom discover means to obtain lion's milk.
Solomon charged Benaiah to fulfil the Persian king's wish. Benaiah took
a number of kids, and repaired to a lion's den. Daily he threw a kid to
the lioness, and after some time the beasts became familiar with him,
and finally he could approach the lioness close enough to draw milk
from her udders.
On the way back to the Persian king the physician who had recommended
the milk cure dreamed a dream. All the organs of his body, his hands,
feet, eyes, mouth, and tongue, were quarrelling with one another, each
claiming the greatest share of credit in procuring the remedy for the
Persian monarch. When the tongue set forth its own contribution to the
cause of the king's service, the other organs rejected its claim as
totally unfounded. The physician did not forget the dream, and when he
appeared before the king, he spoke: "Here is the dog's milk which we
went to fetch for you." The king, enraged, ordered the physician to be
hanged, because he had brought the milk of a bitch instead of the milk
of a lion's dam. During the preliminaries to the execution, all the
limbs and organs of the physician began to tremble, whereupon the
tongue said: "Did I not tell you that you all are of no good? If you
will acknowledge my superiority, I shall even now save you from death."
They all made the admission it demanded, and the physician requested
the executioner to take him to the king. Once in the presence of his
master, he begged him as a special favor to drink of the milk he had
brought. The king granted his wish, recovered from his sickness, and
dismissed the physician in peace. So it came about that all the organs
of the body acknowledge the supremacy of the tongue. (97)
Besides Benaiah, Solomon's two scribes, Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons
of Shisha, deserve mention. They both met their death in a most
peculiar way. Solomon once upon a time noticed a care-worn expression
on the countenance of the Angel of Death. When he asked the reason, he
received the answer, that he had been charged with the task of bringing
the two scribes to the next world. Solomon was desirous of stealing a
march upon the Angel of Death, as well as keeping his secretaries
alive. He ordered the demons to carry Elihoreph and Ahijah to Luz, the
only spot on earth in which the Angel of Death has no power. (98) In a
jiffy, the demons had done his bidding, but the two secretaries expired
at the very moment of reaching the gates of Luz. Next day, the Angel of
Death appeared before Solomon in very good humor, and said to him:
"Thou didst transport those two men to the very spot in which I wanted
them." The fate destined for them was to die at the gates of Luz, and
the Angel of Death had been at a loss how to get them there. (99)
A most interesting incident in Solomon's own family circle is connected
with one of his daughters. She was of extraordinary beauty, and in the
stars he read that she was to marry an extremely poor youth. To prevent
the undesirable union, Solomon had a high tower erected in the sea, and
to this he sent his daughter. Seventy eunuchs were to guard her, and a
huge quantity of food was stored in the tower for her use.
The poor youth whom fate had appointed to be her husband was travelling
one cold night. He did not know where to rest his head, when he espied
the rent carcass of an ox lying in the field. In this he lay down to
keep warm. When he was ensconced in it, there came a large bird, which
took the carcass, bore it, together with the youth stretched out in it,
to the roof of the tower in which the princess lived, and, settling
down there, began to devour the flesh of the ox. In the morning, the
princess, according to her wont, ascended to the roof to look out upon
the sea, and she caught sight of the youth. She asked him who he was,
and who had brought him thither? He told her that he was a Jew from
Accho, and had been carried to the tower by a bird. She showed him to a
chamber, where he could wash and anoint himself, and array himself in a
fresh garb. Then it appeared that he possessed unusual beauty. Besides,
he was a scholar of great attainments and of acute mind. So it came
about that the princess fell in love with him. She asked him whether he
would have her to wife, and he assented gladly. He opened one of his
veins, and wrote the marriage contract with his own blood. Then he
pronounced the formula of betrothal, taking God and the two archangels
Michael and Gabriel as witnesses, and she became his wife, legally
married to him.
After some time the eunuchs noticed that she was pregnant. Their
questions elicited the suspected truth from the princess, and they sent
for Solomon. His daughter admitted her marriage, and the king, though
he recognized in her husband the poor man predicted in the
constellations, yet he thanked God for his son-in-law, distinguished no
less for learning than for his handsome person. (100)
VI.
JUDAH AND ISRAEL